REVIEW: Superman: Lost #6
We’re heading into the last half of the series and this creative team continues to address relevant issues with unexpected twists that keeps the story feeling fresh and exciting with every issue.
Superman: Lost #6, “Rockets’ Red Glare”, starts out closing in on the last few years of Superman’s accidental exile and ends with a new wrinkle in the temporal paradox he’s found himself since the first issue. Hope’s betrayal is also brought to life and solidifies the post-traumatic stress symptoms plaguing Superman back on Earth.
Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, and Elmer Santos gives us a sneak peek into the major showdown between Clark and Hope with their standard cover. A fledgling Green Lantern who’s yet to conquer her fears seemingly besting her friend and mentor is in stark contrast to their intimate embrace shared on a variant cover last issue. Superman is usually depicted breaking green glowing chains, but his weakened state during this series has Hope keeping him restrained and adds to the despairing tone of the book.
There’s a moment where Clark tells Bruce he feels more like a memory of an old friend and Lee Weeks, with Elizabeth Breitweiser, gives us that visual with their variant. As Superman stands on the edge of a precipice, a literal Shadow of The Bat encompasses the spatial void background like a memory. Weeks and Breitweiser showcase that even light years away the World’s Finest still find a way to inspire each other.
Gary Frank and Brad Anderson’s variant is a fascinating take on the differing timelines playing out in this series. Using the white cape of Superman’s new outfit as the diamond outline of his “S” shield, a more traditional looking Superman forms said “S” with a yellow star for the background. Much like the Lee & Breitweiser variant, the traditional clad Superman appears to be a memory or it’s possibly the wishful thought of the nourishing effects of a yellow sun.
The interior art team of Carlo Pagulayan, inker Jason Paz, and colorist Jeromy Cox turn their realism talents towards the various regions of planet Kansas this issue. In a desperate attempt to warn the people of the inevitable demise of their world, Clark travels the globe to convince the leaders to help save the planet. The visual result highlights just how diverse and divided the world really is, making the relevance of the story all too real. Top it off with a brilliant fight sequence and this is probably the most visually dynamic issue of the series yet.
Scribes Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan, lettered by Willie Schubert, drive home Kansas’s parallel fate of Krypton in Superman: Lost #6 as Clark naively tries to get the world leaders to understand their world is dying. In true classic science fiction fashion, the plight of Kansas plays as a reflection of today’s climate issues as dire situations are twisted into political nonsense. Sadly, the only unification Clark manages to achieve is the leader’s want of his absence from their world.
Nearly twenty years have passed and Kansas has never accepted his presence to the point they’ve built a prototype starship, not to save themselves, but to send him on his way. Feeling the only way to help everyone is to leave and bring back help, Clark agrees to go. It’s here Hope’s actions from issue #5 are revealed and their confrontation takes place. Just when you think you have an idea where the rest of the story is headed, another cliffhanging obstacle presents itself adding another layer to the distracted nature of Clark’s “present day” behavior.
We’re heading into the last half of the series and this creative team continues to address relevant issues with unexpected twists that keeps the story feeling fresh and exciting with every issue.
